Travis Logie and Owen Wright advance to Billabong Pro Tahiti Semi-Finals – 2011 ASP World Tour
The fifth stop of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Billabong Pro Tahiti, continued with the third and fourth quarter-finals on Monday, August 29, at Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti.
South Africa’s Travis Logie continued to shine in the third quarter-final, defeating in-form Brett Simpson to secure his place in the Semi-Finals.
The fourth quarter-final saw Australia’s Owen Wright clinch a comfortable win over Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro, advancing to the Semi-Finals while eliminating his opponent from the competition.
The 32-year-old Logie had successfully followed one impressive performance with another throughout the event and did not seem to have lost his touch during his quarter-final bout against Simpson on Monday.
As the third quarter-final kicked off in clean four-to-six foot waves, the South African immediately got down to business, catching a wave to score an impressive 8.17 off it. Not quite finished yet, he immediately followed it up with an exquisite manoeuvre
while riding a barrel to score an outstanding 9.90, moving to a heat-total of 18.07 points.
Simpson put up a remarkable fight to keep his opponent from relaxing by scoring 8.77 points early in the 30-minute heat. However, he failed to get the necessary score of his second wave and eventually finished with a heat-total of 17.14 points, 0.93 points
short of his rival’s two-wave total. Consequently, Logie walked away with the win into the Semi-Finals.
The fourth quarter-final featured the 21-year-old Wright take on Monteiro in a battle for the coveted Semi-Final spot. Pitted against each other at such a crucial stage of the competition, both the surfers were expected to bring out their best to try and
prevail over the other.
As the heat kicked off, Wright immediately clinched the lead by scoring 7.17 points off his very first wave. Monteiro successfully kept the pressure from mounting by responding with a 7.10-point wave.
As the battle progressed, both surfers went through a series of low-scoring waves. Towards the end of the battle, Monteiro jumped ahead by collecting a 6.00 off his second business-wave. However, Wright once immediately regained the lead through a spectacular
exhibition of skill and style on his last wave of the heat to earn 9.57 points. Finishing with a heat-total of 16.74 against his rival’s 13.10 points, the Australian made his way confidently into the Semi-Finals, where he was to compete against Logie for a
spot in the Final.
For updates on the Semi-Finals of Billabong Pro Tahiti, stay tuned to bettor.com
Tags: